Imagine a life where all you see on social media is only a positive environment and shows people’s real life. It seems like that being a realistic option is very far from us, but why does it have to be? Over the years social media has turned into a place where people only show the best parts of their life or the best pictures of themselves, which doesn’t seem like too much of a problem, but in reality it can be a very serious situation. As the influence of social media increases, it has spread more negativity and unrealistic expectations than it does positivity, which can cause self esteem issues and unhealthy comparisons between people.
Social media has taken over the world in the more recent years and many people don’t realize how much social media can be such a toxic and unhealthy environment for people, especially teenagers. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are a few of the many that give mixed messages towards people and their lives. Everyone wants to share the best moments and pictures of their lives on social media, which makes it seem like their lives are perfect, but that’s not their reality. Many people don’t realize that these pictures and videos are not these people’s everyday life, which can cause them to constantly compare their lives to the unrealistic lives they see on social media. People use social media for many different purposes and many use it for inspiration for themselves, their business, or other things in their lives, but there’s a line drawn between finding inspiration and comparing yourself and life to others. When you compare your life to others, you will constantly want to be like them and do the things they are doing, which can create self esteem issues and dissatisfaction with yourself.

When people create impractical expectations in their head, they develop a habit of trying to change themselves. They think they are changing themselves for the better, but they are only trying to change themselves into someone else and someone they are not. We can see a pattern here where people share the top moments of their lives, yet when they see other people post the same thing they think that it is their reality, but they’re actually just doing the same thing. You can see how this can turn into a toxic situation even though people are trying to show all of the positive things in their lives. It is quite the confusing environment and there are positive aspects that come along with social media, but sometimes those positive features can turn into something negative. There is something we can all do about these problems that have arose and it involves a lot of positivity.

The biggest thing anyone can do on social media is spread positivity. By spreading positivity it creates a happy and more inspirational environment among people. Personally if you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others or bringing yourself down, you could try monitoring yourself and the time you spend on social media. Instead of looking at other people’s pictures and lives all day, go live your own life and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing or what they look like. Just try to remember that everyone is only posting the moments where they feel or look their best and don’t bring yourself down because of it. You are your own person and have your own life that has amazing aspects of it and even though those might not be the same as someone else’s it doesn’t mean you don’t feel the same amount of joy and happiness as they do.